Residents have reacted furiously after they discovered “secret” plans to create thousands of new homes near theirs.
Selby District Council has begun consultation on creating a ‘garden village’ which could include thousands of new homes, on land at Church Fenton airfield.
The move is part of the Government’s demand on all local authorities to identify potential brownfield – or previously developed – sites for new villages, and the council said the former RAF Church Fenton has been selected for its “proximity to existing road and rail infrastructu”
Church Fenton Parish Council is unhappy with SDC meeting “behind closed doors” to explore the development, and residents at a recent parish council meeting “expressed astonishment that something of this nature could have been put forward in secret”, but the district council said open meetings would take place.”
They have heard up to 10,000 homes could be built.
Parish Council chair Sarah Chester said: “In the days immediately before the meeting I met with the local councillors and local MP who confirmed the existence of a proposal, but even they had few details. Not only have the local parish council been ignored, but so have local elected representatives. This flies in the face of all the principles of local democracy, particularly when the government have been promoting localism. It is frightening that a Council that is supposed to be working for local people can act in this way.”
An SDC spokesman said a new village on the site would “help to address existing community concerns regarding additional housing for local towns and villages, as well those relating to flooding and highways”, but said despite work already done with public and private sector partners and the submission of an ‘expression of interest’ for this site, “there is no confirmation that this will be taken any further”.
The council spokesman said: “I must stress that this is just an expression of interest in the potential of future development. No decision has been made about whether this will progress to the next stage, during which we would consider plans in more detail. Importantly, should we proceed any further we’ll be involving people living and working in the area to have a say in how any such development would take place.”
The York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership (LEP) helped create the ‘expression of interest’, and a spokesman said the creation of a garden village would “deliver the high quality housing, employment, public spaces and transport links that are essential elements of a new garden village”.
The development will only go ahead if the government thinks it is worthy of further exploration and following full planning process.
Article originally published by The Press.
